X-Adventure RAID SERIES, Scotland, 10-11 may 2003
6th place for team Salomon Suisse
Fort William / Avimore - Last weekend the first race of the adventure racing world cup serie (X-adventure RAID serie 2003) took place in Scotland. 50 teams of 4 people coming from 15 different nations showed up at the starting line. The weather condition was extremely difficult: the day prior to the race it was snowing until sea level. The distance of the race was 214km and 4505m positive altitude change divided upon 12 different segments. Team Salomon Suisse (Bettina Ernst, Jan Béguin, Alain Berger, Iwan Schuwey) finished in 6th place.
1st day: The original plan for the first part was climbing up Ben Navis (1344m) - Great Britain's highest mountain. However because of the very bad weather (snow, wind) the route got changed. We were happy with the first three disciplines: (running, 15km, 1484m altitude change), MTB (43km/167m altitude change), canoeing (16km). However we had a difficult time on the following segment: kayaking on the Loch Ness. Rain, strong wind and HUGE waves made this part to a TRUE adventure. At that moment time became unimportant. We were just relieved to be back safely on land. Afterwards there was a tyrolien travers followed with repelling into the pool of a waterfall. In the following MTB part (28km/820m altitude change) our team could really play its strength and we finished with the best time of the day. Afterwards was a 3h run/hike at night (21km/535m+ altitude change) where we lost again some time. At the end of the day we finished 10th, which was not that satisfying but we were strongly motivated to move up on day 2.
2nd day: at 5am after three hors of "sleep" we raised and slipped into our wet neoprene…ick!! luckily the weather was a bit friendlier. The first segment was canoing (20km) followed by inlineskating (10km/ 30m altitude change) - a beautiful rolling course, in which we placed in the top three. Also in the following MTB part we moved up the ladder and also had a very good mountain run (14km/821m altitude change). With the last run (9km/340m-altitude change) on tired legs we were happy, proud and satisfied to reach the finish line.
Conclusion:
The time before Scottland we were extremely busy organizing and packing for the Raid Gauloise (start 10th of June). Therefore our team was not optimal prepared for the race in Scotland. Physical we were in a good place, however mentally we did not have the edge in Scotland. Our full focus and energy is for our big dream the Raid Gauloise!
Now we have to rest up a little and get sharp for Kirgistan!
Ranking
1. Les Arcs-Quechua FRA 16:26:12
2. Saab-Salomon GBR 16:29:16
3. Human Link SWE 16 :56 :18
4. VSD Eider FRA 16 :59 :26
5. Nokia Adventure FIN 17 :10 :16
6. Salomon Suisse SUI 17 :22.31
46 Teams klassiert
